A pop a day keeps boredom away!

Banana cream pie is one of those desserts I didn’t “get” until I moved down south. Frankly, I hadn’t ever realized exactly what it was until I was down here — I always thought the custard itself was banana flavored, which, ew. But no, it’s vanilla custard layered with slices of banana, and it’s lovely.

To make the pop, I thinned out 1/2 cup of prepared vanilla pudding with 1/4 cup of milk. Then I used a knife to stick banana slices to the sides of the Zoku mold — I used as many as I could cram on, because I wanted this pop to be all about the banana. Finally, I tried to layer cookie crumbs into the pops as I poured (for the crust, of course). However, there was simply too much going on in these pops and no room for crumbs. I pressed a few into the bottoms of the pops (tops of the molds) instead.

They came out looking pretty good:

I like this shot-from-below angle. Makes my pops seem all large and intimidating. And who doesn't like being intimidated by their dessert?

To my surprise, the bananas did not freeze solid in these pops. Rather, they retained their soft and creamy consistency, which provided a nice contrast to the harder pudding. The overall effect was excellent. I’m calling this recipe a keeper.